Try

lily burana gives the reader a bird's eye view of the rodeo life in try, and it is startling. try is the story of daryl, a denver painter, whom after a bad breakup, decides to go to cheyenne to regroup...she stays at the family compound with her brother jace, and ends up getting involved with the cheyenne arts scene and cowboy life ...lily, against her better judgement, falls for j.w., a cowboy and champion rodeo star, who is old enough to be her dad....and the book is pretty much a treatise on how love can be just as rough as a cowboy trying to handle a bucking bronco.... a book can either make me love literature or it can make me hate it...the worst crime a novel can be is boring...i didn't have to look for any exciting moments in try...they jumped out at me....the rodeo scenes are so authentic, i wondered if ms. burana dated rodeo cowboys or if she was one herself....she did her homework and then some...in one scene when j.w. is getting into bed with daryl, burana describes in detail the bruises j.w. has on his legs and back and it made me wince...the scene which duff, j.w.'s brother is killed by a bull , practically stopped my heart...rodeo is not for the faint of heart.......the supporting characters are cool, too: kimber, daryl's bff is bascially a good time girl...shawna is a painter, who has" sold out," painting portraits the equivalent of the " dogs playing pool " type art you see at the flea markets... and duff, j.w.'s brother, who have a most interesting sibling rivalary..... this book is raw and raunchy...but then, burana's an ex-stripper, so it's to be expected...but there were some scenes that even made my ears turn blue...one scene, which daryl goes to get a certain private part pierced, had a train wreck effect on me...i was stunned, but i kept on reading....but overall, i was never bored...the story went down smoother than a few shots of cuervo gold...the best compliment a writer can get is that their book doesn't feel like "a first novel" ...burana knows how to stay on past eight seconds....

What more could someone ask for in a book. This is one of the most refreshing books I've read in a long time. I could not put it down. It has everything-action, cowboys, and love. I highly recommend this book and think most you will have a hard time putting it down once they have started reading it.

I can think of a dozen reasons to love this book -- its vivid, lively, sometimes bone-crunching depiction of the world of cowboys and rodeos, its frank, fearless eroticism, a storyline that's so compelling you're resentful when the world intrudes and you have to put the book down. But if there were one reason above all I'd recommend this book, it would be this -- its brazen, optimistic, uncynical heart. The world is too full of self satisfied fiction, of authors who create characters just to snidely make sport of them. Imagine then, a story of flawed, vulnerable people who are still appealing, one as full of passion as the characters themselves. Daryl Heatherly paints because she loves to paint. J. Dub rides because he loves to ride. And Lily Burana writes like a writer who loves to write -- and we're all the luckier for it.

At turns stunning, steamy and poignant, Try is a multifaceted gem. Daryl Heatherly is a nuanced and realistic protaganist, and her lover JW is an appealingly calloused New West warrior. What's not to love? Lily Burana's craftmanship is airtight, but her unique prose style is never labored or overcooked. It's this effortless fluidity that makes Try such an achievement. Whether she's describing a cinematic Wyoming vista or a risque body piercing, Burana conjures unforgettable images with ease. Every paragraph is gorgeous. Try is a great American romance with a Western tang. Highly recommended!

Nerve has an excerpt of TRY online, and I ordered it because I thought this would be a hot, naughty read. It is sexy, but it's so much more. So romantic and uncynical and full of scenes that transported me out of my life and into the West, with sights, sounds, and subtle details. "Trite" if you don't like romance, maybe. Lent out my copy already and know I'll have to beg to get it back. Guys might not like the book, but any girl who's ever been she-masculated will get it, devour it, and love it.